Mason, Noah

Born: 1782-01-15 Mendon, Massachusetts

Died: 1834-11-18

Flourished: Sangamon County, Illinois

Mason ran away to become a sailor when he was very young. In 1804, he married Lucinda Stetson, with whom he had six children. He went on one last long voyage after marrying but eventually settled in Hancock County, Maine. Mason moved to Madison County, New York, in 1812 and again to Genesee County two years later. He relocated to Olean Point in 1819 before deciding to strike out for the West in 1821. Mason lived in Pope County, Illinois, for three years but eventually settled in Auburn. He farmed cotton for many years, although he spent about five years working in the mines near Galena. By 1834, he owned a large amount of land due to wealth acquired in the mines. During the Black Hawk War, Mason served in four different companies, two of which also included Abraham Lincoln.

Gravestone, Cumberland Sugar Creek Cemetery, Glenarm, IL; John Carroll Power and S. A. Power, History of the Early Settlers of Sangamon County, Illinois (Springfield, IL: Edwin A. Wilson, 1876), 476-78; Muster Roll of Captain Jacob M. Early’s Company of Mounted Volunteers; Muster Roll of Captain Jacob M. Early’s Company of Mounted Volunteers.